Senate Passes $838 Billion Economic Stimulus Bill

On Tuesday, Senators voted 61 to 37 to approve the economic stimulus bill. Only three Republicans voted in favor of it. In the House, an $819 billion version of the package passed Jan. 28 with no Republican support. The package now heads to a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between the two versions. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said after today's vote that House and Senate conferees would start working immediately to resolve differences. "I think the differences really are fairly minor," he said. "I think we can get most of our work done in the next 24 hours." Sen Reid said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Obama early this morning and heard his views on what should be in the final bill. "His differences with the bill we have here are very, very minimal," the Senate Democratic leader said. President Barack Obama, who hopes to sign the resulting bill into law before Presidents' Day on Monday, has publicly encouraged negotiators in recent days to restore some education provisions that were stripped from the Senate version to reduce its overall cost. The Senate version of the bill includes $7 billion to improve deployment of broadband networks in the US; the House bill allocates $6 billion. Both bills include $650 million to unclog the DTV-to-analog converter box program. In a letter sent to House and Senate leadership today, Free Press voiced strong support for broadband stimulus and urged members of the conference committee to ensure that key provisions remain in the final bill. In particular, the letter highlights the importance of funding broadband grant programs over tax credits, targeting support only toward new investments, upholding clear openness conditions, applying forward-looking speed benchmarks, and putting expert agencies in charge of administering the funds.